The rapprochement between politics and the folk-music revival began to unravel in 1965. What had been dormant since the early 1950s was resurrected in 1962 when Peter, Paul, and Mary recorded "If I Had a Hammer." [1]
The relationship grew stronger in 1963 when folk revival singers performed at Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. [2] That was when the Journeymen began encountering problems touring in the South. [3]
The following year, King won the Nobel Peace Prize [4] and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. [5] In 1965 King led the march from Selma to Montgomery to enforce African-American rights. Joan Baez and Peter, Paul, and Mary again sang, this time at a concert organized by Harry Belafonte in March. [6] Congress passed the Voting Right Act in August. [7]
With those laws, the hard work of implementing them began, as the impact of the legislated changes became more obvious. People started seeing Blacks in their motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. Concrete reality clashed with latent prejudices, both in the South and in the North.
Whatever consensus that had formed around folk music began to fray. For instance, Bob Dylan performed in Washington, but not in Alabama. [8] He moved toward Nashville’s country musicians and performed with electrified instruments at the Newport Folk Festival. [9]
Academic folklorists began calling the commercial music fakelore, because not all the songs were traditional and the singing styles incorporated popular music motifs. Early supporters of Sing Out! complained about the intrusion of the profit motive. [10]
Joni Mitchell found one financial consideration that inhibited the free exchange of folk songs was that "each city’s folk scene tended to accord veteran performers the exclusive right to play their signature songs." This wasn’t limited to songs they’d written, but traditional ones as well. [11]
This attitude was different than that of apprentices in country music, who began singing the material of better known artists to develop the singing and instrumental style of the genre. When they auditioned for road bands, they were expected to already know their parts.
Mitchell said that exclusiveness forced her to write her own songs. The guardians of commercial folk music then complained about original songs that were copyrighted. Performers, or their agents, had become aware of their value and charged for reproduction. That effectively limited both other performers from singing them and editors from including them in collections without paying royalties.
James Leisy entered the fray in 1966 with his Folk Song Abecedary. Unlike his earlier collections, which included songs that were being sung, this one focused on songs that ought to be known. The anti-war songs were from Ireland, [12] not the contemporary protests against the war in Vietnam.
He included songs that had been popularized by the commercial folk music performers, but not the ones that required royalties. Thus, he included a number of the traditional ballads recorded by Baez [13] and some of the early material from The Kingston Trio. [14] The Buffy Sainte-Marie song [15] was closely related to a nineteenth century British Ballad. [16]
Instead of the popular versions of songs, Leisy offered the traditional ones. Rather than provide Kingston Trio’s "M. T. A," [17] he published Henry Clay Work’s "The Ship That Never Returned." [18] He reproduced "Man of Constant Sorrow," [19] rather than Judy Collins’ "Maid of Constant Sorrow." [20]
The exception to this exclusiveness was pre-World War II country music. He included five songs by the Carter Family [21] and two by Roy Acuff. [22] He also offered "Abilene," which had been popularized by George Hamilton IV in 1963. [23]
More than a third of his selections were English, Irish, Scots, or Southern ballads and songs, and a sixth were religious, including African-American spirituals. Occupational songs comprised another large group, including cowboy and western songs, and chanteys and sea songs. However, none were from the labor movement.
Although he disguised his selections by presenting the songs in alphabetical order, he was beholden to the collections of Carl Sandburg and John Lomax. Indeed, a third of his material came from their anthologies.
This shouldn’t have been surprising. In the biography that accompanied the collection, Leisy said Lomax and Sandburg visited his father when he was a child. [24] He added:
"I became a devoted student of the work of Francis James Child, Cecil James Sharp, Phillips Barry, Frank Clyde Brown, Vance Randolph, B. A. Botkin,"
and others. He also thanked Irwin Silber and Sing Out! for their help. [25]
He was able to reuse "Kum Ba Yah" from Folk Song Fest. He reworded the introduction, but kept the text exactly the same. He altered the change from the A to the D chord in the third line. In 1964 he changed on "kum." In this collection, he changed on "ya."
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: unison
Instrumental Accompaniment: chords
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
"There is a widely circulated theory that this song was based on the words ‘come by here’ as Africans attempted to imitate these words as spoken by missionaries. In any event, this fragmentary song became traditional in Africa, where it was ‘found’ and brought to America, to become part of our tradition."
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom bah yah
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying, hoping
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: "many people use the English words ‘come by here’ instead" of "kumbaya"
Basic Form: verse-burden
Verse Repetition Pattern: "Many people use the English words "come by Here" instead. New verses are constantly being coined. A few examples are shown here. The chorus may be repeated after each verse."
Ending: none
Unique Features: "new verses are constantly being coined"
Time Signature: 3/2
Tempo: "usually sung very slowly and with dignity."
Key Signature: two sharps
Guitar Chords: D G A A7
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final "Lord"
Audience Perceptions
One Amazon customer wrote:
"The Leisy book is a wonderful resource. I use it for material in teaching music at the elementary school level, and for piano students to learn to read from a lead sheet. There are hundreds of songs with a wide variety of styles. The background notes Leisy supplies enriches the experience of the music and ties the culture to American historical." [26]
Another added:
"If you study the music that grew out of traditional songs... country, rock, blues, some jazz or modern folk... this book will strengthen your understanding. Jim Leisy explains the evolution of 200+ folk songs, describing the source, development and variations, and includes lead sheets (melody, chords and lyrics) for each tune. My edition is from 1966, I can see and hear the influence of scores of anonymous songwriters on later works, from Dave Matthews, George Strait or Bob Dylan to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and countless others. Almost all popular music since the 1930s mimics the structure, the stories or the actual melodies of traditional roots music. Numerous music books offer more songs, of course, but if you want to know the back story to these songs, the Folk Song Abecedary is your ticket to greater appreciation of our musical roots." [27]
Notes on Performers
This was the last folk-song collection produced by Leisy. He produced another anthology for the Methodist church, [28] and turned his attention to other forms of music. In 1967, he began playing trombone with a San Francisco dixieland band, [29] and produced a songbook for the business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi. [30]
At some point he was inducted into the Bohemian Club. [31] The association had been formed by artists and writers in San Francisco in 1872, but had been coopted by conservative businessmen and politicians. They kept a few creative people, like Leisy. One reason may have been the pretense that the theatrical production staged at their annual retreat was mounted by members. [32]
He had published "Poor Lil" in a four part arrangement in 1964. [33] He first had published the humorous, slightly naughty song in Swingin’ Housemothers." [34] In 1971, he began issuing choral arrangements of original songs [35] or traditional ones like "The Rock Island Line" [36] through Fred Waring’s Shawnee Press.
He sold his technical publishing company to a British conglomerate in 1978, [37] and wrote his first musical production for children. Scrooge was based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It lasted an hour with seven major roles, and a number of smaller speaking parts. Shawnee still provides an accompaniment tape for those who don’t have pianists or other instrumentalists available. [38]
Leisy continued to produce these musicals until 1988. Most were based on children’s stories, and varied in their ambitions. "Tiny Tim" lasted 20 minutes with few speaking parts. This version of the Dickens’ tale was suitable for "children of elementary and middle school age." [39]
Leisy died in 1989. His obituary in the Los Angeles Times focused on his business. It said he was a member of the Young Presidents Organization, but did not mention his interest in music. [40]
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Ya." In The Folk Song Abecedary. New York: Bonanza Books, 1966. 209–210.
End Notes
1. Peter, Paul And Mary. "If I Had A Hammer." Peter, Paul And Mary. Warner Brothers Records W1449. May 1963.
2. Wikipedia. "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."
3. See post for 20 October 2019 for details.
4. Wikipedia. "Martin Luther King Jr."
5. Wikipedia. "Civil Rights Act of 1964."
6. Rachel Hassinger. "March 24, 1965: ‘The Night the "Stars " Came Out in Alabama’." WGBH website. 24 March 2018.
7. Wikipedia. "Voting Rights Act of 1965."
8. David Hajdu. Positively 4th Street. New York: Picador, 2001. 201.
9. Wikipedia. "Bob Dylan."
10. David A. De Turk and A. Poulin, Jr., included many of these articles in a 1967 anthology. [41] It included B. A. Botkin’s "The Folksong Revival: Cult or Culture?" and Irwin Silber’s "Folk Music and the Success Syndrome." [42]
11. Wikipedia. "Joni Mitchell."
12. "Johnny I Hardly Knew You" and "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier."
13. For example, "Silver Dagger," "The House Carpenter," and "Banks of the Ohio."
14. For example, "Greenback Dollar " and "Good News."
15. Buffy Sainte-Marie. "Must I Go Bound." Many A Mile. Vanguard VSD-79171. 1965.
16. "Must I Go Bound" and "Butcher Boy, The [Laws P24]." The Traditional Ballad Index. California State University-Fresno website. Version 4.5.
17. The Kingston Trio. "M.T.A." At Large. Capitol Records T1199. Released 1 June 1959.
18. Work wrote "The Ship that Never Returned" in 1865. It was adapted for a 1924 Vernon Dalhart recording, "Wreck of the Old 97." Bess Hawes and Jacqueline Steiner reused the Dalhart version for "Charlie and the M. T. A." in 1948. [43]
19. Wikipedia. "Man of Constant Sorrow."
20. Judy Collins. "A Maid Of Constant Sorrow." A Maid Of Constant Sorrow. Elektra EKL-209. November 1961.
21. This included the two recorded by The Kingston Trio ("Tom Dooley" and "Worried Man Blues"), their two best known songs in 1966 ("Can the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Wildwood Flower"), and "I Never Will Marry."
22. "The Great Speckled Bird" and "Wabash Cannonball."
23. George Hamilton IV. "Abilene." RCA Victor 447-0717. Recorded 20 March 1963.
24. Leisy, Abecedary. Back cover.
25. Leisy, Abecedary. ix.
26. Kerry Cordell. Comment posted 22 July 2014. Amazon site for Abecedary.
27. Ross Gidcumb. Comment posted 18 April 2014. Amazon site for Abecedary.
28. James Leisy. The Good Times Songbook. Nashville: Abington Press, 1974.
29. "Franklin, James Franklin." The Writers Directory 1980–82. London: The Macmillan Press, 1979. Page 735. The band was T. Ford and the Model A’s.
30. The songbook mentioned in The Writers Directory was Alpha Kappa Psi Sings.
31. "James Franklin Leisy." Prabook website.
32. Wikipedia. "Bohemian Club."
33. James F. Leisy. "Poor Lil ." Park Ridge, Illinois: General Words and Music Company, 1964.
34. This collection was discussed in the post for 15 December 2019.
35. James F Leisy. "A Little Old Lady in Tennis Shoes." Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania: Malcolm Music, 1971.
36. James F. Leisy. "Rock Island Line." Delaware Water Gap: Shawnee Press Inc., 1975.
37. "James F. Leisy; Leading Textbook Publisher." Los Angeles Times. 15 July 1989. The conglomerate was International Thomson Organization.
38. James F. Leisy and Jack Lambert. Scrooge. Delaware Water Gap: Shawnee Press, 1978.
39. James Leisy and Joyce Merman. Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol. Delaware Water Gap: Wide World Music, 1981. Quotation, 2.
40. Los Angeles Times.
41. David A. De Turk and A. Poulin, Jr. The American Folk Scene. New York: Dell Publishing, 1967.
42. Silber was discussed in the post for 13 November 2019.
43. Wikipedia. "The Ship that Never Returned."
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